"The pathway to success is not always straight and narrow route. As a college student you gain a lot of experience from working with different individuals from various backgrounds. The relationships you develop through meeting your professors, advisors, mentors and employers is called networking. Networking is the way we interact with other people to exchange information and develop contacts, especially to further one's career. Networking is something that you all have been doing all this time and did not even notice.

Utilizing technology to network is something we are seeing more and more today. One way of networking is through social media such as:

LinkedIn

Job Boards

Job/Internship Fair

One of the best ways we network is through personal interaction and building relationships.

From the beginning of your college experience the different individuals you come into contact with are part of your network. As a college student it is important to take advantage of all the opportunities to make connections that you can use. Networking is a big part of being able to ask for a recommendation letter, land that dream job, or ask about great internship/job opportunities.In order to start developing these many networks it is important to consider how you can make a lasting impression on someone that you want work with in the future. Developing yourself into a professional is key in this process. Social media is a big part of our world today so make sure your accounts that you have are professional, clean, and leave a great representation of who you want to be.

The individuals that you come in contact with during your college experience can be utilized as resources. The people that you utilizes as resources to move to the next steps in your life usually are more than willing to give you advice, resources, and connections of their own. To close, never turn down an opportunity to grow because it can lead to something much bigger and better. Each opportunity is a way to develop yourself professionally and put yourself out there to learn new things."

-Alexandria D.,Undergraduate Intern at the Office of Academic Advising

"When I was a freshman, I had no prior experience with a resume. It would have been beneficial to have my resume completed early-on for multiple reasons. By talking to career services, I found three reasons why having a running resume is beneficial.

The first reason is that the job application process is stressful already. By having a completed resume ahead of time would have relieved a great deal of stress during the application process. I believe that if I had created a strong resume beforehand, I would have been much more confidence during the interview process.

The second reason is that I did not know where I needed improvement. A resume is a snapshot of you for employers to determine if you are the right fit for the position. My resume needed to reflect that I could successfully fill the needs that their position required. If there are any obvious flaws with your resume, there is a high chance you will not get the position.

Lastly, I did not know what I should include on a resume. When I was a freshman, most of my experiences were from high school. I should have gone to the Career Services office for assistance. Career Services says that you should only have high school experiences on your resume your Freshman year. After Freshman year, you should take them off. I was unaware that they recommend not including your high school experiences. There were so many rules about resumes that I was unaware of that would have been beneficial to know about during this application process. Resumes are the first impression that the employer will have of you, so it is essential to have a resume that accurately represents you and your abilities.

Overall, there are countless reasons why you should create a resume as early as possible in your college career. The reason you are attending college is to find a successful career after graduation and having a strong resume is a part of that process. I have included a short guide below with general rules and guidelines for a successful resume. However, I strongly encourage you to visit Career Services and meet with a trained professional who can assist you in creating a high-quality resume.

The main rule of a resume is to have only one page (unless you are an education major, which suggests two pages). If you go over this amount, employers are likely to discard your resume. In order to keep it on only one page, there are certain things to include on your resume.

1. When first creating your resume, the top of the page should include your general information. This Header should include:

Name

Street address, City, state, and ZIP code of your residence

Phone number and email address to contact you

2. After the header is created, you will list your highest level of Education (current or past), which includes:

Name of the institution

City and State of the institution

Degree earned

Date/expected date of graduation

Cumulative GPA

3. Following your education, you will list your Work Experience, with your most recent employment listed first. A general tip is to include jobs that are either relatable to the position or have transferable skills. Included with the list of experiences are:

Business you were working with

Position held

City & state of the business

Months and years you were employed in the position

Duties you had in the position (three to five bullet points)

4. You will then create a Leadership & Activities section, which includes your involvement in groups/committees and the leadership roles that you held. The layout of this section includes the same components as the Work Experience section. However, you should only have two or three bullet points for each item listed.

It is recommended that you meet with someone in Career Services to discuss your resume. Each person’s resume is unique and these specialists can assist you in creating a strong resume that will make you stand out to employers. You can schedule appointments by calling their office at (319)273-6998 or you can email them at careerservices@uni.edu. "

How many conversations do you have like this on a daily basis? How often is it not actually going well?

What if your friend or acquaintance had replied: “No, but really… How is it really going…?” Would your answer been different if you had the time to talk?

If you feel like you are struggling, but have not had time to talk to the the counseling center, you can take some time to talk to them at their event, “Let’s Talk!” There will be confidential counselors in the library at the dates and times below for brief and informal conversations. Maybe you need some coping mechanism to calm some mild anxiety or work through a broken relationship.

There is pink and red everywhere. You are less than enthused about the month of February, other than the over abundance of options of candy at the store. Christine, a PAiR in our office writes about how she has flourished during the month of February with the help of some chocolate and friends!

"February, the month of love.

My freshman year I went into the month of February single. Instead of being sad or upset that I had not found the love of my life my first semester in college, a few friends and I decided to celebrate Galentine’s Day. A day celebrating awesome friendships and a night out with the girls.

We did a secret galentine with a limit on the present as $10 so we could all afford it and get some chocolate on Valentine’s day. We proceeded to get all dressed up in our fanciest clothes and went to Village Inn.

We had so much fun.

I would recommend Galentine’s day celebrations to anyone who asks. It’s relaxed with your friends, but it can still be a day where you feel surrounded by love. If you have a special someone in your life, you can still celebrate Galentine’s day any day!"

25% of the way through spring semester of 2017, yet it does not feel like spring. We have snow. We have ice. We continue to endure our Cedar Falls wind. We are tired. Many feel like spring semester is harder than fall semester. The winter is longer in the spring semester. The idea of Spring break and Summer are coming to mind. For some, these things bring little joy.

This is all normal, but we must endure. We must be resilient.

But what is Resilience? Toughness. How does one become ‘tough’? There are a few different ways. What resilience is not… Resilience does not mean bottling things up, not asking for help, not sharing that you are struggling, etc. The student health clinic wants to bring more resources about how to be more resilient to the students at UNI and they said, "Our goal at the Student Health Clinic and Student Wellness Services is to create a community of care at UNI. We want students to know that they are not alone in their struggles and that we are dedicated to helping them bounce back when times are tough. We plan to meet this goal by implementing resilience skills and programming into various departments and programs already existing at UNI. Be on the look out for us!"

Resilience is not something that comes over night and everyone is at a different place in their college careers. We must work to become more resilient.

Scoreforcollege.org/resilience101 explains that there are five things that can assist with building resilience.

Manage Stress- Procrastinating on Netflix does not help manage stress. We can manage our stress by:

Identifying your stress.

Modify unhealthy habits.

Discover coping strategies for where you are vulnerable.

Examine Your Thoughts- “Well my semester is worse than yours…”

Stop comparing yourself to others. Hard is hard.

Work to say positive things throughout the day.

Try to turn negative conversation into positive conversation.

Build A Support Network- If you live in the residence halls, you already have a whole support system around you.

Go to Peer Academic Advisors in Residence (PAiR) office hours.

Talk to your RA.

Join a student group if you have not already.

Take Care of Yourself- Physical, Mental, and Emotional Health all need to be maintained.

Learn to say no to things if you are already booked.

Go on a walk at the Healthbeat in the Union or the WRC.

Drink more water.

Block off time in your schedule to meditate or journal.

Pursue Goals- Setting goals provides us with purpose and directions.

If you are undecided, make it a goal to go to Major Spotlight.

Create two goals for the day, three for the week, and four for the semester.

In college, my number one goal is to graduate with a major in something I am passionate about.

I have learned the importance of truly doing something you love and loving what you do, which is the reason I have spent so much time trying to determine what exactly that is for me. As I am not certain what occupation is “my calling” or what my heart is set on doing for the rest of my life, I am slowly figuring out what my strengths and weaknesses are, along with what classes I enjoy taking.

I found it extremely difficult to know at just 18 years old, when coming into college and selecting a major, what it was I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life.

I knew I wanted to work with people for an occupation. I enjoy helping others and want to make a difference in other people's lives. With my interests steering toward the fields of health sciences and teaching, I wanted to pursue something involving both. After talking to students with a major in communicative disorders at an event called Majors in Minutes, I instantly became intrigued and saw great potential in pursuing that as my major.

Majors in Minutes is an event UNI puts on in the Maucker Union Ballroom once a semester for students wanting to explore different majors, otherwise known as “a group speed dating approach to learning about majors of interest to you!”. I am forever grateful my advisor encouraged me to attend this event my first semester of my freshman year because it is the reason I have my major now.

Proceeding Majors in Minutes in the fall, I attended Major Spotlight in the spring, which was different in only having various selected majors there for students to learn about more in depth. Major Spotlight is made to be like a movie theater type of event held in the basement of the Union with around 7 different majors having their own room.

The majors picked to be at the Major Spotlight event were the most popular majors at the Majors in Minutes event. Lucky for me, communicative disorders was a major of high interest at Majors in Minutes and therefore, was one of the spotlight majors.

At the event, I was able to sit in and listen to students already in the major explain all that the major entails as far as what classes to take, how they got into the major themselves, what excited them the most about the future with the major, along with any other questions or concerns other interested students, like me, had. They showed us a really neat and informative video of communicative disorder professionals, and it gave me great insight of what I could potentially be doing in the future after I graduate. I came into the room simply knowing the basics of the major and still unsure what it was exactly I wanted to pursue, but attending Major Spotlight definitely confirmed I was on the right path with this major.

I learned so much from the event. With communicative disorders, you can choose to work more in the audiology or speech and language pathology areas. This major incorporates both working with people and having a medical background, which is exactly what I want to do. I appreciate how communicative disorders could involve working in a school, hospital, or any other public place, as audiologists and speech language pathologists are needed at all sorts of different locations to work with all kinds of different people, as well.

Now I feel confident choosing communicative disorders as my area of study. I look forward to taking more classes specifically for this major and meeting new people studying communicative disorders, too. I am so glad I found this major, as it is something I am truly passionate about and excited to pursue. I hope with this major I can find happiness in my career and be excited to go to work every day in the future - my ultimate goal.